The Telangana crisis is back to haunt the Congress and the question that the UPA leadership will now face on a secret note in the Srikrishna Committee's report will bring more embarrassment. Though the committee's report was made public in December offering six options for the state, an all-important note on law and order and internal security dimensions (Chapter 8) was withheld from the public view, with a copy submitted in sealed cover to the home ministry.

The contents of the note were revealed after an Andhra Pradesh high court order recently, where Justice L Narasimha Reddy pointed that the committee set up by the UPA government acted in a partial manner highlighting the terrible effects of separation — spurt of Maoist elements, rise of jihadi elements and socio-economic imbalance.

The note, according to excerpts quoted by Justice Reddy, goes to the extent of advising the government on how to mange the politicians ( from Telangana) and journalists (media house owners and beat reporters) in order to effectively curb the Telangana movement.

A group of about 700 journalists from Telangana have camped in the Capital equipped with excerpts of a secret note of the Srikrishna Committee report on separate statehood. The forum, which sought an appointment with the Prime Minster and UPA chair is holding a public meeting on Wednesday to be attended by BJP leaders and those backing the statehood demand.

Proponents of Telangana like TRS who turned down the committee from the beginning say the note reveals the true nature of the government's intention of setting up a committee and demands scrapping of the report.

“The Committee recommendations are to subvert democracy and continue united Andhra Pradesh. The high court order reveals that it made recommendations on managing the political parties, media and also listed draconian steps to crush the student-spearheaded movement. It went to the extent of suggesting the type of bullets to be used,” said a statement of Telangana Journalist Forum.

“We fail to take forward the Telangana struggle if we do not understand the contents the secret note,” Zaheeruddin Ali Khan, one of the convenors and managing editor of the leading Urdu daily Siasat said.

The matter (of revealing the chapter) is pending before a division bench of the Andhra high court.

At a time when the brazenly corrupt Congress led UPA government at the Centre has shocked the nation with its unmatched record in corruption, Modi has zealously protected his image as an incorruptible leader, while also showing zero tolerance for corruption in his governance. While Modi’s personal integrity remains unquestioned, even his worst political rivals and critics concede that he has been able to provide a corruption-free government in Gujarat.

The change in U.S. administration’s view towards Narendra Modi which denied a visa to him in 2005 is a case in point. In a cable dated November 2, 2006 (84043: confidential), the Consul General in Mumbai, Michael S. Owen wrote, “Modi has successfully branded himself as a non-corrupt, effective administrator, as a facilitator of business…and as a no-nonsense, law-and-order politician…”

Incidentally, Modi is the only political figure anywhere in the world that WikiLeaks cables from the U.S. diplomatic establishment have shown in a positive light.

Under Narendra Modi, Gujarat has made rapid strides in development over the past decade. Go to any part of Gujarat and I bet you will see huge development works underway. Anna Hazare knew full well what is happening in Gujarat when he praised Modi for his leadership.

Critics are quick to point out the religious divide in Gujarat and how post-2002 riots, Muslims live constantly in fear. All this is bunkum and motivated propaganda by vested interests. In most parts of the state, Hindus and muslims are living in perfect harmony and there is not an iota of discrimination.

Law and order situation in Gujarat is the best you can obtain anywhere in the country today. In a state that had witnessed periodic communal disturbances under the Congress rule, Gujarat had been remarkably peaceful over the last decade. There has not been a single incident or a day of curfew in Gujarat since 2002. Can any Congress ruled state match that record? Evidently, what goes on in the name of communal tension in Gujarat is propaganda unleashed by vested interests and there is absolutely no basis for such assessment.

Modi On a Roll in Gujarat

Such is the fast pace of development in Gujarat that people of the state have no doubt in their minds that Narendra Modi will get a bigger mandate in 2012 assembly elections. The Congress party gloating over a narrow victory in Gandhinagar corporation elections is unlikely to get any cheer in the next year’s assembly elections. As things stand now, the Congress party will be fortunate to win half the number of 59 seats it won in 2007 assembly elections and may end up with below 30 seats in 2012 polls.

Congress’s Evil Designs

As Modi’s reputation of integrity is impeccable, it has put into operation a sinister plan to implicate Modi in a plethora of cases involving killing of Sohrabuddin and other incidents. To ensure success of this strategy, the UPA government is firing all cylinders by subverting various institutions, supplementing efforts of bogus NGOs, muzzling voices of support for Modi and managing media to sharpen its attacks.

Whoever has crafted this strategy for the Congress party has not learnt lessons from its past mistakes. Narendra Modi has emerged stronger from every attempt that the Congress party has made to destroy him. The present effort to implicate Modi by dubious means will be no exception.

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” said Napoleon Bonaparte. “Never interrupt your opponent when he's destroying himself”, said Paul Begala, a political commentator. The Congress party is in a self destruct mode in targeting Narendra Modi. It must be allowed to fulfill its death wish.

A few weeks ago, i wrote on Gujarat and Narendra Modi. It attracted more comments than any of my columns in two years. In the thousand-odd comments , there was a high degree of misconception, exaggeration and misunderstanding. I have no reason to keep writing on Modi. But considering he is such a touchy issue in Indian politics, i'd like to bust the six Modi myths floating around.

The anti-Modi myth number one is that he is akin to Hitler. Comparing the CM to possibly one of the most evil leaders on earth makes sensational copy, but is not factually correct. Yes, the post-Godhra riots targeted a particular religion . However, the scale, its organized and unprovoked nature, the extent and time period of the holocaust were at an entirely different level. Most importantly, Hitler was dictator of Germany at that point. He had dissolved democracy and controlled the army. Not obeying his orders could mean execution.

The Gujarat CM, or any CM in India, doesn't have a fraction of Hitler's powers. Our CMs cannot order the army or central forces to shoot civilians . Only the state police reports to the CM. However, if the police disobeys the CM's orders, there's not much the CM can do. He can definitely not order an execution like Hitler could. The police officer who claimed that the CM asked him to turn a blind eye, could be asked, why did he turn a blind eye? The CM couldn't have killed him; he couldn't even have fired him. At worst, he could have had him transferred or prevented a promotion. Thus, to avoid a dent on his career, the police officer decided to let the killing of innocents happen? Was he complicit too? These are tough questions that the court will decide.

The ugly reality of the riots is that there were more people complicit in the riots than one dictator . CM Modi may have been a political opportunist , and that is wrong in itself, but he wasn't , and isn't , a dictator.

The second anti-Modi myth is that he is deeply communal, and given half a chance he would destroy the country's secular fabric. But the fact is, no politician is ever deeply anything. Politicians react to opportunities. Whatever people want, is the way the politicians behave. The same government that was silent on corruption now speaks about the cleanup required in politics , after the scare of the Anna movement. In 2002, the mood of the nation was completely different . Imagine late 2001. The 9/11 attacks, followed by a major Kashmir bomb attack in October , the Parliament attack in December, and the burning of kar sevaks in Gujarat in February 2002 -- all of these were linked to Islamist groups. There was fear in the minds of people and opportunistic politicians exploited it. Today, things are different. Non-secular politicians cannot survive, at least at the national level. Smart politicians understand this. With such intense scrutiny on Modi it is unlikely he will make even so much as a communal comment anytime soon.

The third anti-Modi myth is that his development work in Gujarat does not matter. It does, especially now, as the middle class cares more about corruption and good governance than ever before.

Coming to the pro-Modi myths, the first is that he did no wrong. While criminal charges are for the courts to provide and decide upon, morally , wrongs did occur. The head of the state should have attempted to contain the damage and heal the wounds in the aftermath. If done right, it could be a political career-plus for the CM to accept the moral wrongs that occurred, and come clean on what he could have done better.

The second pro-Modi myth is that he needs to do nothing about the criticism, or for the Muslims. Far from it, Modi needs to take active steps to help the Muslim community, and give them a feeling of security under his regime. Muslims in Gujarat have been largely safe ever since. However, the CM has not actively come out and affirmed his commitment to protect everyone in his state. Many Muslims are upset with the seeming smugness of Modi and his supporters. Modi needs a strategy, to bring back to neutral, if not win, Muslim trust again. It isn't easy, but not impossible. The third pro-Modi myth is that Gujarat is India's development heaven. Yes, Gujarat is doing well, but others are doing well too. The southern states are ahead in many parameters, such as literacy and mortality. Also, a lot of Gujarat's wealth creation comes from the Gujarati community's entrepreneurial culture.

All of the above myths can never be fully dispelled . A section of people will never change their opinion about Modi. But, the more openminded amongst us will probably see the full picture and make an informed judgment on whether he has a place in India's future. Modi himself will need his own strategy if he wishes to become a real player on the national stage, which many think he has the potential for. Or, he could be happy with what he has and remain the most controversial politician in India's history.

In an effort to register his protest against Uttar Pradesh government’s move to set up 8 modern slaughter houses in the state, Jain Muni Shri Maitri PrabhSagarji Maharaj has been on fast-unto-death since 26th April 2011, even after 17 days of his fast UP’s Govt has not shown any positive response.

The peaceful movement was keeping the police and UP Govt on their toes and UP’s chief minister has lost his sleeps as the movement was getting massive support from all walks of life from across the country and from countries like England and USA.

Meerut Bandh on 10th May was successful beyond UP Govt’s imagination and finally the govt decided to disrupt the movement by hook and crook and ordered the city police to arrest the Honourable Jain Monk on his 17th day of fast unto death at 2 am along with more than 100 supporters, nobody knows where they have kept Munishri.

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Jay Bhagwan Goyal head Rashtravadi Jain Manch recalled how the UP police hurt the religious sentiments of Jains while forcibly admitting the fasting monk to a hospital.

“Jain monks don’t use vehicles whereas Prabhu Sagar was taken into a vehicle after his arrest. Not only this, he was given glucose forcibly in the evening,” Goyal said.

The Rashtravadi Jain Manch also announced that a foot march would be held on Thursday from India Gate to Rajghat to protest the police action.